Improved tool-handle



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

C. W. BIOREN, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVED TOOL-HANDLE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 59,757, dated November20, 1866.

Y description of my invention sufficient to enable those skilled in theart to practice it.

There are many tools which, like a common screw-driver or gimlet, areturned by the action of grasping with the hand or iin gers the handle ofthe tool and turning it with a twist, the handle remaining in theposition where placed when the grasp of the operator is released and anew hold is taken upon the handle, so that another twist making part ofa revolution may be given, and this operation is repeated indenitely ineither direction.

The continual action of grasping and releasing the tool-handle is veryfatiguing to the muscles, and produces blisters and irritation of theskin, which it is an object to avoid.

The ordinary bit stock or brace is, on account of the continued andrapid rotation which may thereby be applied, the :most effectiveinstrument for rotating tools; but there are many situations where itcannot be used for want of room.

To supplya handle by which tools may be rotated 4in either direction bymere twisting movement of the wrist or ngers, and without releasing-orchanging the gra-sp upon the handle, is the object of my invention,which is illustrated in the drawings- Figure l being a longitudinalsection of my improved tool-handle; Figs. 2 and 3, elevations of thesame, showing positions of the coupling-ring t' different from that seenin Fig. 1. Fig. 4. is a plan of the tool-holding end of the handle. Fig.5 is areversedplan of the tool-holding end detached; and Fig. 6 is asectional view of the coupling-ring i.

The tool-holding end of the implement is, for convenience inconstructing its ratchet, made of two pieces, a and b, but otherwiseoperates to all intents and purposes as one integral piece. The piece bhas a long shaft or shank, c, extending intol the shank of the ,piece d,on which the lower ratchet is formed shaft c being capable of rotatingin either direction and of having a slight endwise play to admit of theteeth of the ratchets passing each other. The piece d is fixed to thehandle e, so that the movements of the handle are a imparted to thepiece d.

On the shaft c, and between the ratchets formed on b and d, is anintermediate piece,f, with ratchet-formed edges ittin gin the ratchetsof b and d.

The three pieces, a, f, and d are splined or slotted, as seen at g g, toadmit of,keys h lz., which, secured to the ring i, lock the piece feither to the piece a or to the piece d, when, respectively, the ringiisplaced in its eXtreme position toward or away from the tool-socket j, orwhich lock said three pieces, a, f, and d, firmly together, so that theyall move as one 'piece with the handle e when the ring lis placedcentrally between pieces a and d. The

ratchet made on a has its teeth inclined in the locked together, and thepiece a is turned by f in the direction which causes the vertical facesof the ratchets on each'to abut.

When the ring t' is in the position shown in Fig. 2, then all three ofthe pieces a, f, and d are locked together and to the handle, and mustturn in either direction as the handle is turned.

To keep the ring e' in any desired position friction-springs a may beused, and, if desirable, their ends may slightly catch in grooves ornotches made in the cylindrical surfaces encompassed atV suitableplaces.

The tool-socket is provided with a holdingscrew, by which any desiredtool may be fastened, and the groove shown across the ends of a and b isdesigned to receive and support the bodies of tools, such as screw-driwers, which are commonly subjected to severe combined and arranged tooperate as shown strains. and described.

I claim- GHARLES W BIOREN A tool-handle provided with the stationaryratchet d, the double-faced sliding ratohet- Wifnesses: ring i, and therevolving socket b, having a, J. B. CROSBY7 ratchet on its under face,when said parts are F. GOULD.

